...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 6-6: Zeke

Zeke was taken aback by Sedna's implication that he should learn to fly a drone. But once he considered what she had just told him and realized it might really be possible for him, he began to see the advantages. He would be able to explore his undersea domain first hand. Not only would he be free from concerns about his physical endurance, his ability to deal with the temperature and pressure, there would be no time limit. Sedna pointed out that if there was reason to interrupt a swim, the drone would stay where he left it and wait for his return without complaint. He began to feel like a child, delighted by the promise of a new toy.

As she had done with Ryan and Rosita, Sedna got Zeke comfortable in one of the QAR recliners and showed him the Drone Dream through his lenses. After letting him experience the feel of occupying the drone avatar, looking around the dream space with its head and moving its arms and hands as mirrors to his own movements, she had him lie still in the recliner and make the drone arm move without moving his own. Then she encouraged him to make the whole drone avatar get up and walk around in the QAR room as if he were the drone, moving it in the dream while his body stayed in the recliner.

This was the crucial step, but Zeke was well familiar with the concept. Long before the Q link was understood, the phenomenon had been associated with so-called mirror neurons, and Zeke knew that history. So rather quickly he was able to make the drone avatar he seemed to be occupying get up out of its dream chair and walk around the dream room while his own body remained still. Within the drone dream he was able to look back at himself still in the recliner, a true out-of-body experience.

From there it was an easy step to hook Zeke up to an actual drone with the QAR link. Sedna had him use Bear's red one. To anyone wearing lenses, it was Zeke and Sedna walking together. After Zeke had enough practice making the drone sit and stand, squat, kneel, lie down and get up again to feel comfortable operating this alternate body, Sedna showed him how to levitate. She took him into a space near the farm where there was a clear view up past all the apartment levels with their balcony rings and bridges to the farm tiers. She joined hands with him and stood on tiptoes and bounced to turn on the flight mode. She pointed her toes just enough to levitate a few inches. Then she had Zeke do the same. Gingerly at first, then with more enthusiasm but still cautiously, Zeke made his drone rise in the air.

Still holding hands, they ascended to one of the upper balconies. Sedna leaned her drone and drew Zeke with her so together they drifted over and could land on the balcony deck. The lean needed for this gentle drift was so slight Zeke didn't know how she had done it, so she told him and he tried it. He was a good student, keeping tight control and moving slowly so he didn't go crashing into any walls. Sedna smiled, remembering the wide open spaces both she and Bear had needed the first time they tried flying.

Soon Zeke was confident enough that Sedna suggested they should go outside. The drones were designed to have a slight positive buoyancy when inactive, so swimming was actually less risky than flying. Since there was no advantage to using an air lock, they levitated to the top of the can, went up the stairs to the outside deck, levitated a bit more and drifted out over the water.

Sedna briefly considered giving Zeke a flying lesson since they were in the air, but the control motions were the same for swimming so she decided to stick with the plan. She descended into the water and Zeke followed.

It startled Zeke when Sedna spoke to him underwater. Then he reminded himself that of course her Sedna avatar was speaking to his Zeke avatar through their QAR links. Neither drone had an actual voice. He was amazed to realize how close he had come already to forgetting that he was operating a drone body. He asked Sedna to repeat what she had just said.

"I think you've already caught on to most of the flight control rules," she told him, "But just as a refresher, it's all in the head and feet. Feet control the thrust, head controls the attitude. So far we've stayed pretty much vertical, so attitude changes have been slight. You know that pointing the toes increases the DDM thrust, returning them to the neutral position means hover. Angling the toes up lets you fall."

Zeke went through these motions, again cautiously, so that he bobbed up and down just a bit.

"Now the attitude controls are a bit trickier, because we tend to move our heads around a lot. So you have to form the intention to tilt before a head movement will affect the DDM. That's there with the feet too, really, but doesn't have to be as conscious.

"Once you form the intention, then tilting your head forward rotates your body forward, tilting it back rotates it back. Likewise tilting the head right rotates right, left rotates left. Head in the neutral position holds the attitude steady. Basically you're using your head as a joy stick."

Again Zeke was already trying these moves. He assumed a horizontal position, face down in the water, as if he were swimming.

"That's enough to get you started. I want to let you explore. I'll follow. But so you know, what gets really interesting is the way your QAR link evolves. It's like the way you learn to control the drone's movements through the QAR without moving your body. Soon you'll be able to control thrust and attitude the same way, without moving the drone's feet or head. It becomes totally natural."

Zeke's swimming instincts made him hesitant to talk under water, so he said nothing. He just signaled with his hand where he was going, and started moving. Sedna followed him.